The second public meeting for the new cultural hub and farmers’ market in Niagara Falls will be held on Tuesday at the Niagara Falls History Museum, starting at 7 p.m.

The meeting will be the public’s second chance to discuss plans for the new cultural hub within the city, to be located at the current site of the Sylvia Place Market and city-owned parking area south of the Niagara Falls History Museum.

The new hub will be of mixed use and have the capacity to house a farmers’ market on designated market days, according to the city’s needs assessment and concept plan (or market visioning study).

The study, to be added to by feedback from these public meetings, will help the city in determining how the space should be designed, as well as identifying what is required by local cultural groups by examining other city facilities to find out the best use of the new hub. It will also consult with the local cultural and farmer’s market community.

The assessment plan says there is significant support for the proposed hub. Some of the core desirable characters are that the hub be consistent and have continuous operation with varied programming, and that it be affordable, have diversity of users and proper accessibility.

Some of the things people don’t want to see in the hub are: a lack of parking, over-commercialization and unhappy, unapproachable vendors.

The city’s cultural plan, which is the reason the new hub was proposed, says the area of Main St. And Ferry St. has the potential to become the cultural and social heart of the community.

The city has hired DTAH (a landscape design agency from Toronto) to provide support in the development of the new hub.

“DTAH's experience in developing interesting and dynamic spaces will assist in creating an important space for the people of Niagara Falls. They have engaged several stakeholder groups already, and have continued the community dialogue with the online survey and public meeting,” said the city’s website.

The first public meeting on the new hub was held on Oct. 3, at the Niagara Falls History Museum, where project consultants Glenn Pothier (GLPi) and Megan Torza (DTAH) presented the needs assessment and concept plan, which can be found here, niagarafalls.ca/pdf/living/arts-and-culture/cultural-hub-meeting-study.pdf.

More than 80 attendees gave feedback at the first public meeting.

To give some perspective on the size of the new hub, here is a scale comparison to the St. Catharines Farmers' Market.

The location of the new Niagara Falls cultural hub and farmers' market.

Market Square, the location of the existing Farmers' Market in St. Catharines.